1 REPORT OF CASE STUDY NO. 34 The response of Brisbane Grammar School and St Paul’s School to allegations of child sexual abuse JANUARY 2017 Report of Case Study No. 34 2 ISBN: 978-1-925289-96-1 © Commonwealth of Australia 2017 All material presented in this publication is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence (www.creativecommons.org/licenses). For the avoidance of doubt, this means this licence only applies to material as set out in this document. The details of the relevant licence conditions are available on the Creative Commons website as is the full legal code for the CC BY 3.0 AU licence (www.creativecommons.org/licenses). Contact us Enquiries regarding the licence and any use of this document are welcome at: Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse GPO Box 5283 Sydney, NSW, 2001 Email: [email protected] Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au 3 Report of Case Study No. 34 The response of Brisbane Grammar School and St Paul’s School to allegations of child sexual abuse January 2017 COMMISSIONERS Justice Jennifer Coate Mr Andrew Murray Report of Case Study No. 34 5 Table of contents Preface 4 Executive Summary 8 1 Brisbane Grammar School 14 1.1 Governance of Brisbane Grammar School 14 1.2 Regulation of non-government schools in Queensland 15 1.3 Brisbane Grammar School’s employment of Mr Kevin Lynch 15 1.4 The experiences of former students at Brisbane Grammar 16 1.5 Complaints about Mr Lynch 24 2 St Paul’s School 33 2.1 Governance of St Paul’s School 33 2.2 St Paul’s School’s employment of Mr Kevin Lynch 34 2.3 The experiences of former students at St Paul’s 35 2.4 BSB and BRB’s meetings with Mr Case 38 3 The Response of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane 55 3.1 The response to disclosures by BRC and BSB and Mr Case’s April 1997 file note 55 3.2 The diocese’s response to the May 1998 letter 56 3.3 Appointment of Mr Case as executive director of the Anglican Schools Office 58 3.4 Statements by the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane in relation to Mr Lynch 59 4 Gregory Robert Knight 61 4.1 Willunga High School, South Australia 61 4.2 Brisbane Boys’ College, Queensland 63 4.3 St Paul’s School, Brisbane 64 4.4 Knight moves to the Northern Territory 71 4.5 Teacher registration 72 5 Systems, Policies and Procedures 73 5.1 Policies, procedures and culture of Brisbane Grammar School 73 5.2 Policies and procedures of St Paul’s School 74 Systemic Issues 75 APPENDIX A: Terms of Reference 76 APPENDIX B: Public Hearing 83 Report of Case Study No. 34 4 Preface The Royal Commission The Letters Patent provided to the Royal Commission require that it ‘inquire into institutional responses to allegations and incidents of child sexual abuse and related matters’. In carrying out this task, we are directed to focus on systemic issues but be informed by an understanding of individual cases. The Royal Commission must make findings and recommendations to better protect children against sexual abuse and alleviate the impact of abuse on children when it occurs. For a copy of the Letters Patent, see Appendix A. Public hearings A Royal Commission commonly does its work through public hearings. A public hearing follows intensive investigation, research and preparation by Royal Commission staff and Counsel Assisting the Royal Commission. Although it may only occupy a limited number of days of hearing time, the preparatory work required by Royal Commission staff and by parties with an interest in the public hearing can be very significant. The Royal Commission is aware that sexual abuse of children has occurred in many institutions, all of which could be investigated in a public hearing. However, if the Royal Commission were to attempt that task, a great many resources would need to be applied over an indeterminate, but lengthy, period of time. For this reason the Commissioners have accepted criteria by which Senior Counsel Assisting will identify appropriate matters for a public hearing and bring them forward as individual ‘case studies’. The decision to conduct a case study will be informed by whether or not the hearing will advance an understanding of systemic issues and provide an opportunity to learn from previous mistakes, so that any findings and recommendations for future change which the Royal Commission makes will have a secure foundation. In some cases the relevance of the lessons to be learned will be confined to the institution the subject of the hearing. In other cases they will have relevance to many similar institutions in different parts of Australia. Public hearings will also be held to assist in understanding the extent of abuse which may have occurred in particular institutions or types of institutions. This will enable the Royal Commission to understand the way in which various institutions were managed and how they responded to allegations of child sexual abuse. Where our investigations identify a significant concentration of abuse in one institution, it is likely that the matter will be brought forward to a public hearing. Report of Case Study No. 34 5 Public hearings will also be held to tell the story of some individuals which will assist in a public understanding of the nature of sexual abuse, the circumstances in which it may occur and, most importantly, the devastating impact which it can have on some people’s lives. A detailed explanation of the rules and conduct of public hearings is available in the Practice Notes published on the Royal Commission’s website at: www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au Public hearings are streamed live over the internet. In reaching findings, the Royal Commission will apply the civil standard of proof which requires its ‘reasonable satisfaction’ as to the particular fact in question in accordance with the principles discussed by Dixon J in Briginshaw v Briginshaw (1938) 60 CLR 336: ... it is enough that the affirmative of an allegation is made out to the reasonable satisfaction of the tribunal. But reasonable satisfaction is not a state of mind that is attained or established independently of the nature and consequence of the fact or facts to be proved. The seriousness of an allegation made, the inherent unlikelihood of an occurrence of a given description, or the gravity of the consequences flowing from a particular finding are considerations which must affect the answer to the question whether the issue has been proved to the reasonable satisfaction of the tribunal...the nature of the issue necessarily affects the process by which reasonable satisfaction is attained. In other words, the more serious the allegation, the higher the degree of probability that is required before the Royal Commission can be reasonably satisfied as to the truth of that allegation. Private sessions When the Royal Commission was appointed, it was apparent to the Australian Government that many people (possibly thousands) would wish to tell us about their personal history of child sexual abuse in an institutional setting. As a result, the Commonwealth Parliament amended Royalthe Commissions Act 1902 to create a process called a ‘private session’. A private session is conducted by one or two Commissioners and is an opportunity for a person to tell their story of abuse in a protected and supportive environment. As at 20 January 2017, the Royal Commission has held 6,432 private sessions and more than 2,060 people were waiting to attend one. Many accounts from these sessions will be recounted in later Royal Commission reports in a de-identified form. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au 6 Research program The Royal Commission also has an extensive research program. Apart from the information we gain in public hearings and private sessions, the program will draw on research by consultants and the original work of our own staff. Significant issues will be considered in issues papers and discussed at roundtables. Report of Case Study No. 34 7 This case study This case study examined the way in which Brisbane Grammar School at Spring Hill in Queensland and St Paul’s School at Bald Hills in Queensland responded to allegations of child sexual abuse of former students. The scope and purpose of the public hearing of the case study was to inquire into: 1. The experiences of former students of Brisbane Grammar. 2. The experiences of former students of St Paul’s. 3. The response of the board of trustees, headmasters and other members of staff of Brisbane Grammar to complaints about the behaviour of Kevin Lynch, a former school counsellor at Brisbane Grammar. 4. The responses of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane, the school council, headmasters and other members of staff of St Paul’s to concerns raised, or complaints made, about the behaviour of Kevin Lynch and Gregory Knight, former members of staff at St Paul’s. 5. The past and current systems, practices, policies and procedures in place at Brisbane Grammar and St Paul’s in relation to raising and responding to concerns and complaints about child sexual abuse. 6. The circumstances relating to Gregory Knight’s employment and registration as a teacher in Queensland. 7. Any related matters. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au 8 Executive summary In Case Study 34 the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse examined the responses of two schools in Queensland to allegations of child sexual abuse.